Brave shopkeeper Paul Cook didn’t flinch when a would-be robber came into his shop and shoved a gun in his face.

Paul, who owns Cleveland Models in Middlesbrough’s Forbes Building, just calmly grabbed the crook and threw him out into the street.

“I have no experience of handguns, but it looked like it was a fake,” he said.

“I was 90% sure it was a plastic gun - but as I was throwing him out I started to question what I was doing and started thinking what if it is isn’t a fake?

“I’m joking about it now but it might hit me later.”

Paul, a married dad who has owned the radio-controlled specialist store for 27 years, told The Gazette it was the first time he has ever been held up.

“I’ve had some stuff taken over the years but nothing like this,” he said.

Paul Cook from Cleveland Models who was working in his shop in Forbes Building on Parliament Road when a man with a gun entered and tried to rob him

The hooded robber, who is believed to be in his 30s, walked into Cleveland Models at around 1pm today brandishing the gun.

“He opened the door and confronted me,” said Paul. “He just swore and said ‘Open the f*****g till!’ I don’t know if that was the extent of his vocabulary?

“Stuff just takes over. I just got his arm and pushed him against the door and ejected him from the shop.

“If I’d done something like that I would want to be away as quickly as I could, but when I shoved him outside he just walked to the end of the road and turned the corner.”

The failed robber made off empty-handed along Tennyson Street, and Paul called the police.

The suspect is described as a white male, around 5ft 11” tall, of slim build and believed to be aged in his thirties. He was wearing a blue jacket with the hood up around his face, a grey hooded top underneath, blue trousers and white trainers.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of the suspect or any witnesses are asked to contact Detective Sergeant Paul Husband from Cleveland Police Major Crime Team on the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or www.crimestoppers-uk.org .